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Interesting story here, about Joe Savery, one of Lance Pendleton's teammates at Rice. Savery was the Phillies' first round draft pick in 2007. He made it to AAA but struggled as a starting pitcher. He decided to reinvent himself, starting over in A-ball as a position player and relief pitcher.
He did well enough that he's been promoted to AAA again.
Some quotes here on the transition from starting pitcher to relief pitcher/designation hitter/first baseman.
“It was fun. It’s fun to feel like you’re good at something again,” Savery said on Thursday after rejoining the IronPigs. “Even though it was A-ball and I was way too old for that league, it was fun to be good again. It was fun to run the bases and slide. I enjoyed that time for sure.”
Probably most of these guys were always the stars of their teams - Little League, high school, college. Must be tough to realize you're not the best any more, in the bigger pond of pro baseball.
He's officially a relief pitcher for the IronPigs, but might be used as a pinch-hitter as well - the Phillies are a NL team, after all.
Rick Ankiel is well-known for flaming out as a pitcher and starting over as an outfielder - a fairly successful one. Fangraphs thought Paul Janish's stuff was good enough that he might be more valuable to the Reds as a relief pitcher than as a shortstop. And Jerry Gil, once a Reds infielder/outfielder who competed with Bubba Crosby for a bench spot with the Reds, is now a relief pitcher. (He walked into the manager's office one day and asked to switch, saying hitting was too hard.)
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs come to NY to play the SWB Yankees in early August. I'll have to see if I can get to a game or two, and see how Joe is doing in his new role.
Labels: Joe Savery
